The parallels of sports and life

Due to my father’s work, I was very fortunate to have studied in Australia during my teenage formative years. Apart from vegemite sandwiches and Big M Milk, I also fell in love with the Aussie culture of “sport is life.”   Sports is not a pastime in the land down under, it is a religion.
 
I played everything when I was at school – Rugby, Australian Football, Soccer, Cricket, Archery, Athletics, only a little bit of Tennis because I was quite bad, and my favourite sport Rowing.  Australia has many rivers and lakes, so Rowing is quite popular within the “University or Collegiate” circle. 

During my time in Australia, I Rowed and coached at Melbourne University Boat Club and Carey Grammar School respectively.  The sport was more of an education than my University Masters degree.  It taught me so many life lessons – working within a team, doing the impossible to win, hard work, sacrifice, building trust, and keeping fit and healthy.
 
Last week, as part of my YouTube show Sunday Learnings with Ben, I interviewed triple Olympic Rowing Gold Medalist – Drew Ginn.  This is a two-part episode and Part 1’s topic was about “Competing Through The Pain” as Drew experienced some heavy back injuries in his career.  In the interview, Drew also shared how he managed to block out the pain of his injured back to win the Gold Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the Men’s Coxless pair. 
 
Today – Sunday 24th January 2021- in part 2, Drew spoke more about his very successful career off the water as a coach and corporate consultant respectively.
 
So when I asked Drew about the parallels of sports and life, he said, “When trying to achieve your ultimate performance, one just has to learn to let it go!  You have done all the work and preparation, so when a race or a match starts, just focus on the things that you have been working on and let go of all the negative energy that this or that might happen.”
 
I personally believe that when you “let it go” then you start to enjoy yourself and appreciate the journey that you are on.
 
So to all Vibes readers, let's take a leaf out of Drew’s book and let it go to achieve the ultimate productive flow. When hosting events, I always remember Drew’s quote, which always puts a smile on my face and being happy is a big part of my job.
 
You can watch both episodes here: 

Part 1

Part 2

 
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Ben Ibrahim is TV Presenter & Commentator, Sports & Media Consultant, and was the General Manager of the Malaysia Valke Rugby club that competed in the 2019/2020 Global Rapid Rugby (GRR) competition.
 
You can contact him on his public Facebook page or his Instagram account @benibrahim_